Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sporting good's dental appliance and more particularly to an athletic protective mouthpiece apparatus with a large airway or Air Channel structure connected to a protective Lip Shield. This invention is used by athletes in contact sports, such as but not limited to American Football, Lacrosse, and Ice Hockey, and is designed to be attached to the chinstrap of a football helmet or other protective head structure. In addition, the mouthpiece, Air Channel structure and Lip Shield are particularly designed to comfortably protect both upper and lower jaw of the athlete while removing stress form the front teeth, protecting lips, and maintaining an athlete's airflow capacity without restriction during competition.
Description of the Related Art
Any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.
Various types of athletic mouth protectors are known to the art. The most common types of athletic mouth protectors known, to the art, and internal to the mouth are 1) Stock or ready made 2) Mouth adapted or “boil and bite” 3) Custom made 4) Dentistry. More specifically and beneficial to our purposes would be to identify the conventional products (prior art) that contain a combined lip shield and mouthguard, and then describe the known problems with said prior art, and conclude by describing how the current Patent application's inventive material overcomes the prior art's inadequacies and is superior to any similar subject matter. For example in U.S. Pat. No. 2,589,504 is a protector for the lips and teeth, however this mouth protector only allows the front teeth to contact with the top and bottom of it's airway structure, putting all the stress on the front teeth during bite, thus leaving the middle and back rows of an athlete's teeth suspended and unprotected. In addition, when this airway is bitten down upon during competition it would condense said airway wherein restricting oxygen flow to athlete. As a result of this method, if a player wanted to call out signals or communicate during competition, for instance, during play of a football game the mouthpiece would eject from players mouth leaving the player open to injury. Also the Prior art suggests at best a strap connected by glue and a snap to the chinstrap. In contrast, my invention connects a protective mouthpiece by way of it's Air Channel structure allowing the athlete's lips to rest comfortably around the Air Channel structure while the middle and back teeth are protected by the mouthpiece's tooth pads. Also, the current invention, permits the front teeth to be protected from direct contact and yet left in a suspended position above the internal airway opening, creating a more relaxed jaw position while the stronger aligned middle and back rows of teeth take the stress from impact during jaw contraction in competition. This invention will attach a connected short strap and foot structure to the helmets chinstrap by hole or other similar opening.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,082,765 contains a lip shield and a U-shaped mouthpiece with small thin airways wherein the front teeth bite down upon from above, and is attached to the helmet's chinstrap by way of a string or cord.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,417 has a small lip protector, inadequate multiple thin airway openings, and no support for middle and back rows of athlete's teeth. Similar contrasting arguments could be made as in [0004].
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,682,164 and 3,692,025 contain connective straps which attaches to a players helmet's face mask, a lip protector, and a mouthpiece with no breathing airways which would restrict an athletes oxygen intake.
And finally, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,768,465 is constructed with a smaller airway divided by a middle bridge within the airway thus creating some restriction of air to the athlete. Also, pertaining to this related art, the athletes' mouth bites down above it's airway, as opposed to my invention in which the teeth are never placed on top of the Air Channel; consequentially, there is never a chance of condensing the athletes airway. Also the prior related art contains a long strap above its airway openings attaching around the bars of a helmet's face mask, in contrast to my invention's smaller strap descending in a downward direction and connecting into a chinstrap.